072 Fields of Gold

Tonight I’m delighted to be staying in Wales and heading down the border country to the Black Mountains near Hay on Wye to talk to farmer, Kevin Stephens.

We talk about the beautiful area of Wales where he lives, and his family farm there, before going on to hear about how he fell into computing at Aberystwyth University and eventually bought himself one and taught himself to wrote software.

We hear some of the different jobs he did after graduation, including working for the National Farmer’s Union, where he designed and built their first management information system, which is still in use today.

We then hear the amazing story about how he got into growing daffodils on his farm at 1200ft. The stress of growing at altitude causes the plant to produce more galanthamine, which is extracted and used as a drug to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

We hear about the whole process, how it came about, how they’re planted into permanent pasture, and how they’re harvested, before going on to talk about his company Agroceutical, and some of the challenges they face in rolling the drug out on a large scale.

All this and much, much more.

Kevin’s an incredible guy, and what he’s doing there is amazing, and it was an absolute privilege to speak to him tonight, and share what they’re doing down there.